Louisiana Hiking Club

Si Louisiana Trail Blazer

2013 Third Quarter

page 1

President’s

Message

page 2 - 3

Brevard, NC

page 4 - 7

St. John, USVI

page 8

Burden Center

Page 9 - 10

Lake Fausse

Point State Park

The President’s Message Like many young people who grow up in

Louisiana, I had thoughts of moving to the mountains

someday. I remember well the first time I saw the

Smoky Mountains of the Appalachians as a teen. Then,

nearly ten years later, I had my first view of the

snow-capped peaks of the Rockies. Both were

thrilling and spiritual experiences for me,

confirming the existence of a Great Creator. But

now, thirty years and a family and a career later, I

am hapy that I stayed here in my home state. During

the past two months, I have made several trips

between Baton Rouge and North Louisiana. I have not

been bored during these drives, enjoying the lush,

green scenery along the way. I was surprised by the

sight of two bobcats crossing the highways (yes,

plural – two different highways at different

locations on the same day) in front of me! Until

this past week, I had not seen a bobcat in the wild,

but on that day, I saw two!

While I have been too busy to hit the trails, I

have marveled at the beauty of our state. We have

beautiful forests, over 60,000 miles of creeks,

bayous, and rivers, and thousands of acres of lakes.

While we don’t have mountains, we do have some

lovely hilly terrain and hundreds of square miles of

bottomlands and golden marsh. These ecosystems

provide habitat for numerous species of wildlife,

which can be observed along the many hiking, biking,

and birding trails located throughout the state.

Some of these are located in Louisiana’s 20 state

parks and many more are located in the various

sections of the Kisatchie National Forest. Don’t

miss an opportunity to enjoy the natural resources

of our state. Join others from the Hiking Club for a

hike, or just get out on the road with family or

friends and explore and enjoy the beauty of our

home.

Happy Trails!

Emelise

2

Brevard, North Carolina by Janie Doucet

Approximately twenty Louisiana Hiking Club members traveled to Brevard, NC in

April 2013. The trip was lead by Nancy Hall. Here are some photos submitted by

Janie.

3

4

The Island of St. John

by Karla Coreil

I've spoken to several club members recently who've been on trips to St. John, U.S.

Virgin Islands. I was the last to go, of course, and it is a fantastic place to vacation!

St. John is a small island, about 20 square miles total, most of which constitute

the Virgin Islands National Park. At 20 square miles, about 8 St. Johns could fit into

the city of New Orleans. That's a small island!

Unlike New Orleans, the high point is 1,277 feet above sea level at Bordeaux

Mountain. And the total population is about 4,200.

But like New Orleans, it is a great destination: warm, humid, friendly ... and the rum

is always flowing!

Most people think of scuba diving and snorkeling when they think of the Caribbean,

with sailing and fishing thrown in for good measure. The surprise of St. John is that

hiking opportunities abound! From steep trails through the mountains to flat trails

along the shore, St. John offers hiking opportunities for everyone.

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One of the trails is the Goat Trail, which runs from Big Maho Bay up-up-uphill and

then down-down-down to Little Maho Bay. We stayed in a Maho Bay tent camp

right along the trail, though more deer than people (or goats!) used the trail. At

either end of the trail is a beach with snorkeling opportunities, and we took full

advantage! Here, we saw a sea cucumber and lots of tropical fish. This was Drew's

first snorkeling trip, and he enjoyed it. I was worried that my own 20 + year old

mask and snorkel might leak ... they (fortunately!) didn't.

We took some other trails to other snorkeling spots. We walked along the flat but

scenic 0.8 mile Leinster Bay Trail to a beach where we could snorkel over to

Waterlemon Cay. (Yes, that's WaterLeMon. I mispronounced it months before

arriving on St. John!) This was

a very easy hike. Once

we'd walked as far as we could

walk, we stored our gear - mine

hanging from a tree, my friend

Jen's left on the ground - and

snorkeled around Waterlemon

Cay, where we saw schools of

fish, corals of all types, and a

shark! When we got back to

shore, we discovered that

the native mongooses simply

love trail mix and granola bars -

- they'd eaten all of Jen's

snacks, leaving the trail mix bag near our things but carrying the granola paper up

the mountainside.

My favorite trail was an unnamed trail along Great Lameshur Bay. We

first drove past busy Little Lameshur beach to see the Lameshur Estate Ruins and

discovered a lovely isolated beach where we stayed for a while. After we'd explored

the beach and historic ruins, we headed back down the four wheel drive road to

Great Lameshur. As directed, we parked under a large tamarind tree right at the

beach. Again, and unlike Little Lameshur and Leinster Bay, we were the only

people there. We walked along the bay for a while, seeing the rocks in the distance

and eventually arriving, scrambling over the boulders for a good 15 minutes before

arriving at Donkey Bight, the beach where we began our snorkel.

Great Lameshur was not only my favorite hike, but also my favorite snorkel. There

were three of us swimming together, with four sailboats anchored relatively nearby,

and millions of fish all around us. And it was here that we saw our first sea turtle!

6

Jen spotted it first, floating ... and then seeming to fly through the water. It was a

lovely, peace-filled moment that wouldn't be matched during our week on St. John.

Many of the hikes led to ruins of old plantations, including Annaberg and

Cathrineberg (photos below), which were well-preserved and/or restored. We saw

ruins of houses, cisterns, windmills. and other structures. The windmills were used

in processing the locally grown sugar cane, though one we visited now grows lovely

ferns and another was hosting an active beehive. All of the windmills had stunning

views of the water!

If you decide to visit St. John, I highly recommend Gerald Singer's book "St John:

Off the Beaten Track." About half the book describes the numerous hiking trails on

the island, and the other half is divided among ruins and other places of interest,

snorkel spots, and recommended beaches. The St. John app for the iPhone was also

an invaluable tool, guiding us to hiking trails, snorkeling spots, and delicious

restaurants all over the island.

One of our favorite

restaurants was called The

Tourist Trap near Coral Bay;

the pulled pork tacos and

nachos were out-of-this-world

good, and the bananaquits

were so flitty and fun to

watch! (Photo, left) We also

especially liked The Grotto

Deli and Baked in the Sun

cafe in Cruz Bay and Pickles

in Paradise in Coral Bay.

We'd been promised that the

food was outrageously

expensive, but not at these

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places: a huge po-boy type sandwich was about $8. The best meal we had was at

Miss Lucy's, a cinderblock building by day and a magical lighted courtyard on the

bay by night. The meal at Miss Lucy's was as fine as any I've ever had, and the cost

for three of us (including cocktails and key lime pie) was about $100. It's not the

price of camping food, but it was a scrumptious treat that was - by city standards -

more than reasonably priced. If you go, try the tamarind candy - remember the

tamarind tree mentioned above? It's a local candy made from the fruit of the

tamarind tree!

I almost forgot one of the most important things: the flora and fauna! Flowers were

everywhere and amazingly beautiful. While many were the same flowers we see

here in south Louisiana, they are more abundant and so much larger in a truly

tropical climate like St. John. And the animals were so fun: iguanas and mongooses

and donkeys and lizards and birds of all sizes! We spent an inordinate amount of

time watching the local critters enjoy their lovely home.

Getting to St. John is a challenge, but one well worth the trip. Virgin Islands

National Park is a beautiful place. The fresh food everywhere is delicious, the

snorkeling is refreshingly beautiful, and the hiking trails are surprisingly fun and

scenic.

_____________________________________________

A Book Review

by Susan Mury

I cannot remember which book I was searching for to add to my

Kindle recently when I found “Following Atticus”, by Tom Ryan. I

almost didn’t give it a chance, seeing the dog on the cover. I’m a cat

lady myself. But, the little dog looked a lot like my “grandpup” so I

gave it a look. And then I gave it a buy. And then, a read that I

couldn’t put down. It’s a true story of several years in the life of the

author, a forty-something, single guy living in a small town in

Massachusetts and writing a tell-it-like-it-is newspaper in which he

exposed the good and the bad about the town’s politicians. A few

events in Tom’s life lead up to the purchase of a miniature

Schnauzer puppy who turns out to be a perfect hiking partner in

many extraordinary ways. He and his dog, Atticus, would drive up

to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and hike to the top of

each of the 48 high peaks. Together, they raised money for cancer

research and then, the following winter, they hiked the peaks again raising money for an

animal hospital that helped take care of some issues Atticus had. Read it and you will be

endeared by a smart and brave little dog who has made a huge difference in many people’s

lives.

8

Second Saturday Hike – June 2013

LSU Burden Center, Baton Rouge

Trees & Trails Hike

by Janie Doucet

My daughter, Christi and granddaughter, Ashlyn joined me on the short hike that we

did with the group. Here are a couple of photos.

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Second Saturday Hike – July 2013

Lake Fausse Point State Park

by Mike VanEtten

We had 15 hikers

come out to Lake Fausse

Point State Park to do

some hiking, take

pictures, and check out

the scenery. Four

members camped out at

the park Friday night, so

they were definitely on-

time/early.

Around 8:45 am we

walked from the parking

lot to the trailhead.

Thirteen of us hiked the

3.3 mile "C" trail and 2 decided they preferred to hike the shorter "B" trail. The poor

little "A" trail got ignored. Oh well, maybe next time.

Weather was better than we

expected; not too terribly hot for a

short hike in the shaded woods in

mid-July, no rain, and the light

breeze was welcomed by all. The

mosquitos were hungry, so many of

us put on some bug spray.

The trails were well marked,

boardwalks over the swampy

sections still in decent shape, trail

width was fine, etc. We did not see

any snakes along the trails, but we

were keeping our eyes open for

them.

I'm glad everyone decided just to enjoy a shorter hike this time compared to

what we typically do, and to not push it too hard in the summertime heat.

10

After the hike about a dozen or so of us enjoyed lunch together and a nice

view of Henderson Swamp from the upstairs room at McGee's Landing

Restaurant. Our

waitress helped us push a

few tables together to make

a long table. After eating

and visiting together, four

of us went on a short

paddle trip to "The Forks"

area just SSE of Catahoula,

La. Many of the Live Oaks

along the banks grow out

over the water and form

sort of a canopy in certain

areas. Check out this

unique area online w/

Google or Mapquest

satellite view.